One of the hottest rumors making the rounds among Statehouse types last week was that the governor and/or the Illinois Republican Party will be sending “trackers” to Springfield for the upcoming special legislative session.

The rumor, which was everywhere, was that the trackers would follow Democrats around to try and get them to say silly things or record them doing stuff that might not look good to the folks back home.

House staff was even telling Democratic members to watch out for the trackers. And some Democrats were privately demanding that their party respond in kind.

So, I went to the very upper echelons of Team Rauner and asked whether the rumors were true. I was told in no uncertain terms that the rumors are totally untrue.

Nasty rumors thrive in the pea-soup fog of fear and loathing that pervades every Statehouse molecule these days. At one time or another it seems like everybody has fought everybody and now nobody trusts anybody.

Heck, the far-right Illinois Policy Institute is even running Facebook ads whacking Gov. Bruce Rauner and legislative Republicans for their “$5 billion tax hike.” Rauner used to be a large contributor and often sought advice from and palled around with the group’s leader.

The governor’s party last week proposed what appears on the surface to be a fairly reasonable budget plan (pending further review) with some much-needed tax increases. But they couched the unveiling in such overtly partisan and demanding terms that it looks like a trap to many eyes on both sides of the aisle.

“We’re calling a special session so lawmakers can pass the Republican’s compromise balanced budget plan w/ reforms,” Gov. Rauner tweeted just before he officially called the special session. Rauner has obvious comprehension problems with the concept of “compromise.” A plan drafted by one party and then presented as an all or nothing demand doesn’t quite fit the traditional definition of the word. Then again, the Democratic majority has also done this on countless occasions.

But at least Gov. Rauner is finally starting to own something. You gotta give him that. Although, if the governor had just laid his tax hike cards on the table two and a half years ago we might not be in this rotten heap of a mess today. Senate President John Cullerton has said almost from the beginning that the only way a tax increase will pass is if the governor asks for it and sets the rates.

And there’s so little trust right now, some Democrats (and some Republicans, who’ve also been burned by this guy) still want the governor to specifically say out loud that he will sign a personal income tax rate of 4.95 percent and new service taxes on things like landscaping which are included in his proposal.

But it’s not just the rumors or the proposals or the press conferences. Other recent events have thoroughly rattled many Democrats. For instance, on June 9th Gov. Rauner contributed $1.5 million to the Illinois Republican Party and the follow following day the state party passed through $850,000 to the House Republicans’ campaign committee.

In other words, to some Democratic eyes, Rauner gave his Republicans big bucks to either vote for tax hikes or stay mum.

It’s also pretty much impossible to pass a tax hike without votes from Chicago Democratic legislators, who don’t have to worry about general election challenges. Yet, the Republican proposal included what seemed to Chicago Democrats to be an obvious poison pill: Vote to raise taxes while simultaneously shortchanging funding for Chicago’s public schools.

And then Illinois Republican Party negative mailers started hitting various House Democratic incumbents.

Last Friday, Rauner began airing TV ads attacking Speaker Madigan and his “puppets” for letting the state “crumble” and for wanting to raise taxes “by billions.”

Well, the House Democrats do stand alone as the only caucus without a budget plan. It’s not at all inaccurate to warn Illinoisans that the House Dems may “let Illinois collapse,” because they haven’t yet done anything concrete to keep the government from collapsing.

But Democrats are left wondering if Rauner is trying to intimidate them into voting with him or setting them up to take the blame for a plan that wasn’t ever going anywhere. We’ll find out soon.

” It’s not at all inaccurate to warn Illinoisans that the House Dems may “let Illinois collapse,” because they haven’t yet done anything concrete to keep the government from collapsing.”
The “because Madigan” meme successfully infiltrates yet another column. Rauner loves it. And IPI’s cachet goes up.

Rauner loves trackers because his own phoniness has yet to be touched by Democrats.

Rauner and Raunerites don’t respect Republicans, holding two caucuses hostage, what makes anyone think Rauner respects Drmocrats or the idea of being a partner when trackers can continue the disagreements that Rauner wants to the squeezing the beast continues.

It’s about the destroying of Illinois, not changing Illinois for the better. Raunerites respect no one but other Raunerites; Dems, Repubs, muni leaders,,Labor… It’s about trackers to derail anything possible to keep squeezing the beast.

No respect is found by Raunerites. That who they are, disrespectful to governing.

The Learning Disabilities Association (LDA) of Illinois is urging a veto of Senate Bill 1 because of the elimination of direct and
dedicated funding both for special education teachers and for summer school for students with disabilities. “Illinois has the proud history of requiring special education, even before there was a federal law, and of tying state money
directly to both special education teachers and special education summer school. Senate Bill 1 ends that tradition,” states Meg Carroll, president of LDA of Illinois. “The most critical school factor for the success of students with learning disabilities is the specially trained
special education teacher. Senate Bill 1 allows previously dedicated special education funds to be spent on anything that a school district chooses to call special education,” says Carroll. “The definition of special education in SB 1 refers to an old vague part of Illinois law that does not even mention the federal special education law, IDEA, or spending money as required by the individualized educational plan,
the IEP, for each student.”
According to Kathleen Loftus, president-elect of LDA of Illinois, “The term learning disabilities was created in Illinois, at the University of Illinois, and Senate Bill 1, as it now reads, is a move away from providing the qualified teachers and specialized summer school so needed by students with learning disabilities.”

Otherwise, this just looks like the bad play-acting of the Senate negotiations. Rauner claims to be supportive, but issues threats behind closed doors and sets loose his IPI attack dogs to undermine the effort.